Just One of the Ghouls
by newbienovelistRD
Summary: Autumn is ready for her first hang out time with her new monster friends. But the day may be more eventful than anticipated when two strangers arrive at Ghostly Mansion.


It was a beautiful Saturday morning in Serene Hills. Autumn smiled as she finished all her homework. Her mother Karen was visiting her Aunt Ethel and will be gone all day, so Autumn was home alone.

Normally, Autumn would watch TV or take walks in town if she was alone. But things have significantly changed for Autumn ever since she met the Ghostly Mansion monsters on Halloween night. Autumn received a magical ring that would transport her to their home in the monster world.

And finally, today was the day for Autumn to test out her new ring and visit her new friends. She checked herself in her vanity mirror. Tan skin, curly bob black hair, and she wore a purple t-shirt, blue jeans, and white sneakers. She wanted to look presentable to her new friends.

Autumn checked her phone and got a thumbs up emoji from her mother. Earlier, she texted Karen if she could visit a friend's house. The thumbs up emoji meant Autumn was ready to leave and her mother wouldn't worry if she came home early and didn't find her daughter around.

"Okay, Mom knows I'll be leaving. There's no room for error." Autumn locked all the doors and windows. Then she looked at her left hand and saw the black ring with the orange gemstone. She took a deep breath and rubbed the stone.

She stopped rubbing. But nothing happened.

Autumn rubbed it again. And this time, she kept rubbing it. She kept rubbing and rubbing until the ring glowed bright orange. Then finally, Autumn disappeared in an orange light.

* * *

In the human world, there was a town called Staybrook in California. This town was famous, or rather infamous for it's local legend; the Grant Mansion.

The Grant Mansion was rumored to be haunted. And it was. Well, haunted by aliens. But there were lots of humans who lived there too, especially sisters Rachel and Sasha Jocklin.

"So, ready to see Scary Godmother?" Rachel said, taking out her special skeleton key.

"You bet!" said Sasha. "I just hope Skully and Bug-A-Boo don't scare me silly too much." She chuckled nervously. "I know they like to scare people but I'm trying really hard not to be so...jumpy."

"Don't worry about it, sis. We always visit Scary and the others. You don't have to be so jumpy around them." Rachel smiled.

Sasha smiled too. "Yeah, you're right."

Rachel stuck the magic key into the door. She gave it a hard turn and,

**SNAP!**

Rachel gasped loudly, making Sasha jump. "What?!"

With a crushed look on her face, Rachel slowly pulled out the key. It was broken.

"THE KEY IS BROKEN?!" Sasha exclaimed. She started to spiral. "But-but-but how are we going to see Scary Godmother?! Or Skully?! Or-"

Just then, the broken key in Rachel's hand started to glow a bright orange color. Streaks of light shot out of the broken key as the glow became fiercely bright. The girls both screamed as they disappeared in a flash of orange.

* * *

Autumn found herself standing in front of Ghostly Mansion. But this wasn't the one in town. This wasn't located in her hometown. This was in the middle of a spooky forest with a huge cornfield and a gate with frightful crow statues and wrought iron spider web gates.

When Autumn approached the haunted house, the door swung open and a flock of bats flew out from inside the mansion! Autumn screamed as she dove to the ground. She felt a few bats touch her hair and she got the shivers.

"Ewwwww! Yuck!" Autumn quivered as she looked to see the bats fly around the sky.

"Hey, guys! Look who's here!"

Autumn turned to the mansion and saw Jeff O'Lantern the scarecrow, Rocky the werewolf, Spooks the ghost, and the witch sisters Ophelia and Cordelia.

Rocky panted with excitement seeing Autumn. His tail wagged as he pounced off the porch. The human yelped when the werewolf landed in front of her. He pulled himself to his full height and smiled that toothy grin. "So, you came to see us after all!" Rocky barked with joy. He gave Autumn a strong lick on the cheek.

Jeff's pumpkin smile glowed brighter as he came up to Autumn. He saw Autumn looking nervous already. "Did our bats scare you?"

Autumn nodded mutely.

Jeff gave a friendly laugh as he helped Autumn up. "It's alright. They won't hurt you. They just like to stretch their wings out."

"In fact..." Ophelia said, holding her broomstick. "How'd you like to hop on my broom and we can fly with them?"

Autumn gulped. "Fly...with bats?!"

Ophelia snapped her fingers and her broomstick flew over and swept Autumn off her feet. Ophelia joined Autumn on the broom. "You ready?"

"Uh, not really."

"Good! Hold on tight!" Ophelia made her broom fly up to the flock of bats. Autumn screamed as she held on for dear life. "Don't scream too loud, Sweetie! Don't want to spook them!" advised the witch.

Jeff smiled as he watched the witch and human flying through the air with the bats. He could hear Autumn screaming. "Sounds like Autumn's having fun up there!"

But Cordelia wasn't smiling. "Doesn't sound like that to me."

Rocky sniffed the air. "Hey! I smell something." He pointed his nose to the mansion. The werewolf sniffed some more. "It smells like..." His nose picked up a sweet, pleasant smell. "Mmm! Scented body lotion!"

Spooks gasped. "You don't think..."

"It's humans?!" Jeff finished.

"Yep. Definitely humans." said Rocky. "Only humans smell this nice!"

"But how?! How can more humans be here?!" asked Spooks.

"Who knows? I say we find them and scare an explanation out of them!" Rocky flashed a smile and ran to the mansion.

Cordelia shook her head. "You guys go ahead. I'll stay out here."

Jeff and Spooks hurried to their home to find the human intruders.

* * *

Rachel and Sasha were laying in what looked like a dark and spooky library. But it wasn't the Grant Mansion library.

Sasha whimpered, her wild eyes darting around the room. "Rach, w-where are we?!"

"I don't know..." Rachel slowly got up and helped her sister stand. "But if we stick together and stay calm, we'll be okay."

However, books started falling off the shelves and a ghostly moan echoed within the room. Sasha screamed and held onto Rachel.

"Sasha! Sasha! Calm down!" Rachel said, trying to relax her frightened sister. "It's okay-" She gasped.

"What is it?!" Sasha looked behind her and there was Spooks!

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Spooks wailed as he used his ghostly powers to make the books fly around the room.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! GHOST! RUUUUUUN!" Sasha took off running.

"WAIT FOR ME!" Rachel ran off as well. She did not want to stay in a haunted library with an angry ghost.

Sasha kept running as fast as she could. She looked around and knew right away this wasn't Scary Godmother's house and she had to get out of here! Sasha turned a corner and ran into something solid and hairy. After stumbling backwards and shaking her head to collect her senses, Sasha looked up and saw a huge werewolf!

Sasha gasped. She looked at the beast in horror. All the color left her face. "W-W-W-W-W-W-W..." Sasha was too scared to say the word.

Seeing Sasha's terror-stricken face made Rocky grin with pride. "What's wrong? Scared?" he growled, his fangs glistening with drool.

In her terrified state, Sasha stiffly nodded. She managed to get back on her feet and run, screaming in terror. She heard the werewolf howl and ran faster.

Rocky chased right after Sasha, enjoying the thrill of a good scare.

Rachel was somewhere else in the mansion trying to find her sister. Sasha ran off so fast, Rachel lost her. Now she was all alone. The elder sister wandered down a dark hallway, trying to keep calm. "Okay, don't worry. There's nothing to be afraid of." She looked around, but it was hard to see anything in a hallway so dark.

It was so dark, Rachel bumped into something standing right in front of her. She let out a scream and backed away from whatever she bumped into.

Whatever she bumped into didn't move. Not an inch.

Relieved she didn't bump into anything alive, Rachel took a closer look and she reached out to touch whatever was in front of her.

A glowing face flashed, laughing evilly at Rachel.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Rachel screamed and ran away.

Satisfied with his own scare, Jeff O'Lantern ran after the girl.

* * *

Outside the mansion, Ophelia landed her broomstick gently on the ground. Autumn let go of the broom. Her hands we're sore from clutching it so hard.

"See? Your first broom ride and it wasn't so bad!" said Ophelia.

With shaky knees, Autumn got off the broom.

Cordelia noticed how spaced out Autumn was. "You okay, kid?"

"Just...a little..." Autumn tried to find the right word.

"Spooked?" Cordelia offered.

Autumn nodded. "Yeah, I wasn't prepared for that. I'm not a fan of heights."

Ophelia gasped.

Cordelia sneered. "Thought so."

"Oh, dear. I'm so sorry, Autumn!" Ophelia hugged Autumn. "I was so excited to have you over, I got carried away! Please forgive me!"

Surprised, but understanding, Autumn smiled and hugged the witch. "It's okay, Ophelia. You just wanted to have some fun." She laughed a little. "And it was pretty cool flying like that!"

A bat flew down and landed on Autumn's shoulder. The small winged animal squeaked as he affectionately nuzzled into Autumn's neck.

Autumn giggled. "That tickles!"

"The bats sure like you!" Cordelia said with a laugh.

Another bat came and cuddled the other side of Sasha's neck while another perched on top her head and snuggled into her hair.

"Ahahahahahahaha! Okay! Stop!" Autumn laughed as she squirmed around. Ophelia shooed the bats away. They flew off Autumn, who was still giggling. "I never thought bats could be so nice!"

"Our bats are always nice!" said Ophelia.

Just then, screams were heard from inside the mansion!

Autumn looked back to Ghostly Mansion. "What was that?!"

"Oh, yeah. We have human intruders so the boys are scaring them silly." Cordelia explained.

"Then we better see how they're doing." said Ophelia.

Autumn was surprised how calm the witches were. "You guys don't seem concerned that there are people invading your home."

"Oh, Autumn. There's no reason to be concerned." said Ophelia. "If there are intruders, we just scare them to teach them a lesson."

"And if they give us any problems, we just turn them into toads or something worse." Cordelia said with a curved smile.

Autumn gulped. She was beginning to feel bad for those intruders.

* * *

Sasha was beginning to tire as she ran from the werewolf. "I got to get out of here!"

"You're not going anywhere, lunch meat!" Rocky barked.

Being called 'lunch meat' made Sasha run faster. She squeezed her eyes shut as she ran down an empty hallway.

**SLAM!**

Sasha bumped into Rachel and Jeff O'Lantern.

"RACHEL!" Sasha hugged her sister. "You're alive! I thought the werewolf got you!"

"Werewolf?!" Rachel said in confusion. "I'm being chased by a monster with a glowing face!" The sisters looked back and saw that the glowing faced monster was a scarecrow with a lit jack-o-lantern for a head.

But thanks to Sasha slamming into him, Jeff was a broken in several places. His left arm and right leg were detached. Pieces of hay were scattered everywhere. And his head was knocked right off his shoulders.

A small lump was moving around in Jeff's chest. A mouse poked it's furry brown head out of his neck and scurried around the floor.

Rachel and Sasha screamed. But not because of the mouse, because of the werewolf who caught up with the human intruders! "There you are!" Rocky snarled as he reached for the girls.

The mouse squeaked and skittered toward Rocky. When the monster saw the mouse, he screamed and backed against the wall!

The sisters' mouths were hanging open with shock. This werewolf was scared of a little mouse?! They saw a young girl and two witches come into the house.

"Guys! It's a mouse! Get it away!" Rocky screamed.

Cordelia rolled her eyes and pointed at the mouse. Yellow magic shot out of her finger and swirled around the mouse. With a poof, it was in a little cage.

"Oh, Jeff! You're a mess!" Ophelia used her magic to put Jeff back together.

"Whoa! Much better!" Jeff picked up the caged mouse. "I was wondering where you were, Squeak."

"Squeak?! You got a pet mouse?!" Rocky growled. "You know I hate them!"

"You're scared of mice?!" Autumn said, astonished. "But mice are little and cute."

"Yeah! And you're huge and terrifying!" Sasha said bluntly.

All the monsters turned to Sasha.

Sasha shrunk from their stares. "Uh, shouldn't have said that out loud."

Cordelia curled her lips in a nasty scowl. "Alright, who are you worms?" She gathered magic in her palm.

Sasha squeaked and hid behind Rachel. "Wait! We can explain!" Rachel took out her broken key. "We were trying to visit our friend Scary Godmother with this magic key! But it broke and we ended up here!"

Cordelia's eyes grew wide. As did the eyes of her fellow monsters.

"Did you say Scary Godmother?!" said Spooks, appearing before Rachel.

Rachel jumped before nodding. "Yeah, she's our friend."

Autumn's head was spinning. "Okay, I am seriously lost right now."

"You're not the only one." said Cordelia. She looked at the Jocklin sisters. "I think it's time you girls told us the whole story."

* * *

And so, Rachel and Sasha explained how they met Scary Godmother and how Autumn met the Ghostly Mansion monsters over Ophelia's homemade gingerbread spider cookies and apple cider.

"Wow! And I thought I was the only one who was friends with Halloween monsters!" Autumn said.

Rachel smiled. "Yeah, the world's a lot bigger than you think, Autumn. She looked at the monsters. "I'm sorry if we intruding your home."

"It's okay, girls." said Jeff. "It was an accident. Plus, we love having company!"

"And a good scare!" said Rocky. "You girls were our best customers yet!"

"We weren't that scared." Sasha protested.

Rocky let out a laugh. "Are you kidding?! You were scared out of your shorts!"

Sasha turned away. "Was not."

Rocky frowned until Rachel whispered something in his ear. The werewolf grew an evil smile and menaced toward Sasha, who gulped and tried to leave, but Rachel held her by her arms.

"So, you weren't scared?" Rocky asked, arching his furry brow.

"Uh, just a little...maybe?" Sasha muttered, looking at Rocky fearfully.

"Wrong answer!" Rocky said before tickling Sasha smack dab in the middle of her stomach.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! NO! NO! STOP!" Sasha laughed. She tried to break free from her sister, but she was too strong.

Rocky laughed. "Coochy, coochy, coo! Coochy, coochy, coo! C'mon! Tell the truth!"

"OKAY! OKAHAHAHAY! I WAS REALLY, REALLY, SCARED! JUST STAHAHAHAHAP!"

The werewolf stopped tickling. "You were right, Rach. She confessed right away!"

Rachel giggled as she freed her ticklish sister. "See? This is why you always tell the truth, sis."

"I'll...get you...for that." Sasha panted out.

Rachel yelped when she felt Jeff's spindly limbs hold back her arms. The scarecrow smiled. "Now's your chance!"

Seeing this golden opportunity, Sasha tickle attacked her older sister right in the middle of her stomach. Rachel laughed up a storm.

Ophelia giggled. "Such bubbly girls!"

"They sure are." Autumn chuckled. Seeing Rachel and Sasha so happy together made her a bit envious. The two sisters were obviously close. She wishes she had that kind of bond with her monster friends.

"EEP!" Autumn jumped when she felt something poke her side. She spun around and saw Ophelia and the rest of her monster friends smiling at her.

"Y'know, guys." said Ophelia. "I think Autumn feels left out."

Rocky pounced on Autumn and started licking her face. At first grossed out by the werewolf drool, she eventually broke down in a fit of giggles. "Hehehehehahahahahaha! Hey! Come on! Quit it!" Autumn laughed.

The werewolf seized his licking. He still kept Tessa pinned as Cordelia used her magic to remove Autumn's shoes. "Wha-?! Hey! No! Put my shoes back on!" She felt her smelly shoe placed over her nose. She gagged from the smell.

Cordelia grinned as she removed the shoe from Autumn's face. "Relax, kid. Loosen up."

"And I know just how." Ophelia said.

Autumn saw the witch kneeling down and going for her feet. Autumn tensed in fear. "Nonononono! Don't-EEEE! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Autumn's feet were being mercilessly tickled by Ophelia.

"Tickle, tickle, tickle!" Ophelia teased.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA! NO TICKLE, TICKLE, TICKLE! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Autumn squealed.

Ophelia laughed as Autumn laughed. "This is fun!"

"NO, IT'S NOT!" Autumn shouted. "STAHAHAHAHAP! I DON'T LIKE MY FEEHEEHEET TICKLED!"

Her pleading voice made the witch stop just as Sasha stopped. Jeff freed Rachel, who was exhausted from tickling.

"You guys are hilarious!" Rocky laughed.

"They sure are." said a familiar voice. Everyone turned around and saw Scary Godmother and Skully Pettibone. Autumn took one look at the skeleton in the top hat and screamed. She hid behind Ophelia.

"Ophelia! Cordelia! It's good to see you again!" said Scary Godmother.

"Scary, you old broomstick!" said Cordelia, who hugged her fellow witch as did Ophelia.

"You two know each other?!" said Sasha.

Scary Godmother smiled. "Yes! We all went to college together! So, you made a human friend?"

"Yep! This is Autumn!" Ophelia looked around. "Where is Autumn?"

"Hiding behind me." said Rocky. He stepped aside, revealing Autumn. He put a hand on Autumn's back. He felt her shivering. "It's cool, Autumn. This is Scary Godmother and her boo Skully." He pushed Autumn toward the skeleton.

Autumn stared at the skeleton. She gawked at his bare bones, empty grin, and those dark, vacant eye sockets...

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Autumn!" Skully greeted in his usual friendly voice.

Autumn couldn't say anything. She was frozen with fear as she gazed into Skully's eye sockets. Rocky waved his paw in front of Autumn's face. "Excuse me? Anybody home?"

Autumn shook her head, snapping out of her fear-induced state. "Uh, h-hi..." She waved feebly at the skeleton.

"She's still getting used to monsters." Ophelia told Skully.

Skully laughed. "I see." He reached his bony hand out toward Autumn, but the scared girl backed away until Sasha stopped her. Autumn looked back and saw Sasha smiling.

"It's okay, Autumn. You don't have to be scared of Skully." Sasha assured Autumn. "I was terrified when I first met him. But I still managed to be his friend when I found out he wasn't mean at all."

Hearing this, Autumn turned to Skully. She noticed his smile maybe creepy, but she saw friendliness too. Taking small, but brave steps, Autumn approached the skeleton. "I-It's nice to meet you, Mr. Skully."

"The pleasure's all mine!" He tipped his hat off to the girl, but also took his head off as well! But Autumn didn't scream, she giggled. "And don't be so formal. Just call me Skully." He skillfully tossed his head back on his shoulders. When he offered his bony hand, Autumn smiled and shook it. It felt odd shaking a skeleton's hand. It was warm to the touch, which somehow made Autumn feel more at ease.

"I'll whip up some tea and sweets!" said Ophelia.

Skully clapped his hands together. "Ooh! A tea party! Should I dress up?"

Cordelia smirked. "Sure. Let me help you." She snapped her fingers and Skully's hat and bowtie was replaced with a pink feather boa and a matching sun hat with a long purple feather in it.

Skully looked at the feather boa. "Hmm...not exactly my color."

Rachel and Sasha burst out laughing, especially Autumn. Perhaps this skeleton wasn't so scary after all.

* * *

Once the tea and sweets were made, everyone settled down to enjoy and reflect.

"I knew something happened to your key! I could sense it a mile away!" Scary Godmother said, holding Rachel's broken key in her hand. "When the key broke, it sent you to a different witch's home instead!"

"Classic magic key mistake." said Ophelia. "But we can patch that key up in no time!"

Rachel smiled. "Cool. But to be honest, I think it's a blessing in disguise that the key broke." She looked over and saw Sasha scratching Rocky's belly while Autumn giggled as Skully tickled her face with his feather boa. "We made a lot of good friends today."

Autumn was defenseless as Skully tickled her, but Sasha came to her rescue by running her fingers up the skeleton's ribs. Skully yelped and almost fell out of his seat. "First thing to know about skeletons, Autumn. Ticklish on the ribs." Sasha advised.

Autumn laughed. "Noted."


End file.
